


look at what well-meant did

by CycloneRachel



Category: Supergirl (TV 2015)
Genre: Canon Compliant, Gen, Gen Work, Implied/Referenced Mind Control, One Shot, Originally Posted on Tumblr, Supergirl (TV 2015) Season 5, takes place right after 5x06
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-11-12
Updated: 2019-11-12
Packaged: 2021-01-29 10:21:00
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,000
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21408589
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/CycloneRachel/pseuds/CycloneRachel
Summary: prompt from peskyshortcake on tumblr: Brainy finding out Lena mind-controlled him
Relationships: Querl Dox & Lena Luthor
Comments: 6
Kudos: 33





	look at what well-meant did

**Author's Note:**

> aka: The One Where Brainy Goes Off

Lena doesn’t know how Brainy finds her lab.

But he does, one Monday evening, and she just barely manages to make sure he doesn’t see Ma’alefa’ak inside his cage, and she makes sure Hope isn’t around right before he walks in.

“Lena.” He says, and the worst part is that he doesn’t look angry at her. Rather, his expression is a mirror of one she’s seen on herself- cold, and calm. He stares at her, and for once, she feels guilty.

But she’s not. She definitely isn’t. She had a reason, for what she did, and if even he can’t see it?

Well, she’ll just have to try harder to convince him.

“Brainy.” She says, clasping her hands in front of her and trying to make her voice light and delicate. Trying to avoid the fact that she knows exactly why he’s there. “This certainly is a surprise, isn’t it? What brings you here?”

“Yesterday,” he starts, “After taking off my Legion ring in the DEO headquarters, something- intruded, in my brain. Not just like the Aurafacian that I tested last week, where I merely augmented the executive section of my mind to allow it to speak through me. This one… shut it down. And then re-“ He pauses, choosing a different word. “Altered it. Placed in only one command, _do no harm_… but in attempting to do so, I could have harmed Alex Danvers. Or even Kara- or J’onn, or anyone else who could have been there. And such a hindrance allowed Rip Roar to escape the facility.”

“That’s terrible.” Lena says, mildly. “What do you think happened?”

“Not just think.” He answers _(thinking, then, of another object that glows bright green- that’s controlled by a supervillain, who uses her device to make others weak, and force them not to fight her control. He will have to assess, to confirm his hypothesis that Lena is a supervillain… but if she is not; only based on this device, she is close to such a status.)_

“I know exactly what happened. This was not Ma’alefa’ak’s abilities- rather, it was technology that harnessed them and mimicked them, and could only have been built by someone who studied his abilities and reverse-engineered them to make a working prototype that, effectively, mind-controlled the subjects in a certain radius.”

Lena’s reaction was one of mock-surprise.

“And you believe I did it?”

“I know the Phantom Zone projector was modified with a piece of L-Corp technology.” He says. “You have Ma’alefa’ak in this laboratory right now. You want to use his abilities, make people do no harm to others… but you do not know the consequences. You do not understand that with such technology, you will be imposing your will on others while ignoring their own, superseding them just because you believe your orders are more beneficial to them than their own thoughts and actions.”

“People are flawed.” Lena answers, trying to defend herself. “I want to make sure nobody betrays one another, or hurts one another in any way ever again. I don’t want to make people zombies without any free will at all. I am trying to do good, even if you don’t see it.”

“No, I do not see it.” Querl says. “I doubt anyone who sees the truth of your plan will.”

“You only don’t understand because you’ve never been betrayed like I have.” Lena says. “You don’t know what it’s like, to be a Luthor.”

“Oh, I don’t?” he asks, taking a step towards her. “Tell me then, Lena. Do you know what it is like, from your very birth, to be among people who despise you just because of your family name, the symbol you wear on your forehead and cannot ever truly escape, even with an image inducer? Do you understand the feeling of nobody in the entire galaxy trusting you when you insist you are trying to do good deeds, to have no good deed of yours go unpunished? No act of charity not resented by those you try to help, even as an official superhero?

Do you have family members who have destroyed planets, for the sake of collecting the knowledge contained within, and do those you meet assume you will do the same? Do you have a relative who attempted to destroy the home planet of one of your closest friends, and are you afraid to ever acknowledge it for fear that you will be judged based on their actions? Do you have a mother who abandoned you the day you were born, and has attempted to kill you only because doing so is the one way she can feel any emotions at all? Do you have a father who would never even acknowledge you, other ancestors who you know little of but are sure that they, too, were collectors and conquerors?

Have you gone down a dark path, becoming like your ancestors for a time only to eventually see the light, and accept the mission of being a hero that you knew you should have been going after all along, and only tried to renounce because it seemed like an unattainable and unrealistic goal? Have you been rebooted, aligned, gained access to your ancestral memories, your relatives who buried your own consciousness and caused you to lose all emotions and become like the ancestors you spent your entire life fighting not to imitate? Have you been mind-controlled by someone you thought you could trust, who you advised on the matter of not giving into one’s sorrow?”

Now Lena was the one staring, blinking at him, mouth open.

“No, Lena, I do not know what it is like to be a Luthor. But I do know what it’s like to be a _Brainiac_, the experience of which is too horrible for you to so much as _comprehend_\- and what it was like, when you violated my mind. And I do not want it to happen, to me or anyone else, ever again. Am I clear?”

“…yes.”

**Author's Note:**

> I'm probably going to finish the next chapter of Pay the Asking Price today, don't worry about that, but last night I just started writing this and it didn't stop (until I did reach a place where I could end it), and I think I'm okay with that. I also have a short Danvers Sisters and Brainy piece that I want to publish here too, but that one so far doesn't have a title. :(
> 
> anyway, I hope people like this? even though it is pretty strongly anti-Lena.


End file.
